‘The secret self’: time, memory and childhood in two short stories by Katherine Mansfield

Abstract

English: This article examines Katherine Mansfield’s notion of self by considering two of her short stories, ‘Prelude’ (1918) and ‘At the bay’ (1922), as well as her biographical writing. It links her desire to acknowledge “the secret self” with her inclination to examine and contest existing notions of the self and its expression in fiction. Mansfield was concerned with exploring the self at its least inhibited, and for this reason the article focuses on works that draw on childhood reminiscences. It also discusses Mansfield’s innovative use of time to suggest the properties of memory. It explores how Mansfield’s art differed from the conventions and traditions of Edwardian fiction, as well as how she was influenced by, and stood in relation to contemporaries with whom she corresponded, such as Virginia Woolf and D H Lawrence, thus also placing her in a modernist context. It also examines how Freud’s concept of the unconscious functions in Mansfield’s fiction, drawing on Kristeva’s writing for this analysis. It argues that Mansfield’s achievement of her distinctive voice as a writer is interwoven with her exploration of ideas of self.

Afrikaans: Hierdie artikel ondersoek Katherine Mansfield se denkbeeld van die self deur middel van twee van haar kort verhale ‘Prelude’ (1918) en ‘At the bay’ (1922), en haar biografiese werke. Dit koppel haar begeerte om “die geheime self” te erken met haar voorkeur om bestaande selfidees en die uitdrukking daarvan te ondersoek. Mansfield wou die self ondersoek wanneer dit minder teruggehoue was, daarom fokus hierdie artikel op haar werke wat terugkyk na haar kindsdae en op Mansfield se vindingryke gebruik van tyd om eienskappe van die geheue voor te stel. Dit ondersoek Mansfieldiese kuns en verskille tussen die konvensies en tradisies van Edwardiaanse literatuur, en hoe sy beïnvloed was deur, en haar verhouding met, haar tydgenote soos Virginia Woolf en D H Lawrence met wie sy gekorrespondeer het, en wat haar dus ook in ’n modernistiese konteks plaas. Deur gebruik te maak van Kristeva se geskrifte ondersoek dit ook hoe Freud se konsep van die onbewuste in Mansfield se fiksie funksioneer. Mansfield se onderskeidende stem as skrywer is vervleg met haar verkenning van idees van die self.